WMST 410 Yuk Lin Tsoi-Yeung
Movie Review
9/12/2006 Driving Miss Daisy
Directed by Bruce Beresford; written by Alfred Uhry based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play; director of photography, Peter James; edited by Mark Warner; music by Hans Zimmer; production designer, Bruno Rubeo; produced by Richard D. Zanuck; released by Warner Bros. Pictures. Running time: 99 minutes.
WITH: Morgan Freeman (Hoke Colburn, Daisy’s chauffeur), Jessica Tandy (Miss Daisy), Dan Aykroyd (Boolie, Daisy’s son), Patti Lupone (Boolie’s wife), Esther Rolle (Idella, Daisy’s maid).
There are no young beautiful characters in the movie, yet with wrinkles, bending bodies and wobbling gaits, the beautiful relationships between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, white and colored, upper class and lower class has been strongly built in the lives of two older adults. It is one of the distinctive dramas in which racial and minorities are given some space, old females become the main characters, and the real life of aging has been openly presented and discussed in details.
“Driving Miss Daisy” portrays two
extremely different classes of older adults’ lives. Miss Daisy represents the
rich, chauffeur Hoke represents the poor. Miss Daisy and her female friends are
in the upper class. They are widows of the rich. They don’t have to worry about
money. The only thing they have to worry about is how to spend their time.
Playing mah-jongg is one of the regular activities in leisure time. On the
other hand, chauffer Hoke and maid Idella have to work till they die, and don’t
have spare time. Miss Daisy does not admit that she is rich although her son
Boolie has the largest textile mill in
In the film, Miss Daisy vividly presents the processes and the fears of aging. Miss Diasy is fine with driving since her husband teaches her how to drive. Things change totally in one morning. After an accident of backing her car into neighbor’s yard, Miss Daisy refuses to talk to her son and admits her problem of losing driving ability. She complains about her car not behaving well. Yet she does not want to rely on her son and his family for transportation, company, and other daily necessities. She tries to solve the problem with other methods: calling taxicabs, taking the trolley, and walking. Finally, she has to admit that she needs a chauffeur. However, like many other older adults, Miss Daisy is not willing to lose her control on anything, even in sitting behind the wheel. She likes to monitor the route and speed to any destination but she is not good at reading maps. Older adults, like Miss Daisy, are afraid to become totally dependent on others in daily living. They view “autonomy” as a ground of self-esteem and the only pride they have.
Then one day Miss Daisy totally loses her mind. She is confused and thinks that she is still working as a teacher. Like other older adults who have dementia, Miss Daisy is very frustrated, going all around the house, and blaming herself for making such a mess. Finally, without other choices, Miss Daisy is sent into a nursing home. The truth is many older adults living in nursing homes are neglected by their families. They are seldom visited by families with thousands of excuses. It is because chauffeur Hoke tries to visit Miss Daisy that they become good friends. Moreover, even Miss Daisy’s maid, Idella, is reluctant to use new invention of technology. She would rather use cloth to mop the house than use the brand new vacuum machine. Just as many other older adults; they are not able to keep up the pace of advancing technology.
To conclude, this is one of the extraordinary movies that reveal life of older adults and their fears and struggles of aging.